Even though the owners do suck and Bettman really sucks and he should be fired for reasons having NOTHING to do with this negotiation, the lion's share of blame for this mess should go to the players in the end.

First of all they were dumb enough to continue to stand on principle when they'd already sold their so-called principle (of no cap) up the river. What can the players possibly gain by turning down a $42.5 million cap now? Nothing. And they'll lose millions of dollars in a fight they'll never win. As Bettman said, now the deal HAS to be linkage and a much lower number. The players foolishly thought all along the owners would crack, despite a handful of teams nearly going bankrupt, despite the war chest, they were arrogant enough to think they could wait out the owners because that's exactly what Goodenow's buttbuddy Fehr told him would happen.

But of course baseball and hockey are two different worlds economically, which the players failed to realize. They might have realized it if A) they believed the INDEPENDENT report from Levitt and B) they took the NHL up on their offer to audit their books but they refused to believe reality. If they had, they would have realized that the owners were DEAD serious about not playing unless they not only got the deal they wanted, but NEEDED. The onus was never, ever, ever on the owners to get a deal done. The players would have made money hand over fist no matter what, all the owners wanted was a meager profit and the players wouldn't even give them that. The owners even bent and would accept the possibility of a loss and that STILL wasn't good enough for the idiot players There was NO WAY the owners could make any of the deal the players offered, and anyone that believes there was is too consumed with anti-Bettman bias.

And the players STILL don't get it. I heard a little bit of the Mike Peca interview on WFAN driving home and when they brought up linkage he said well the rollback is off the table now. Ayiee, they still don't get it At least Peca TALKED to the damn media though, give him credit for that, Goodenow won't even give them the courtesy of that. May Goodenow and the NHLPA rot in hell.

Edited by Hasan4978, 16 February 2005 - 03:33 PM.

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"The Devils have high standards, that's the difference. We have a standard to live up to every year, and a couple of teams in our area don't have the standards we do." - Pat Burns

The New Jersey Devils win Stanley Cups everywhere:-NHL record for most road wins in the playoffs - 10-1 in '95 and 10-2 in '00-NHL record for most home wins in the playoffs - 12-1 in '03

I didn't catch who asked it, but this was a weird question: Is there a culture difference with Goodenow being Canadian and Bettman being American, with the PA's head office being in Toronto and the NHL's head office being in New York?

I think what he meant was that the majority of the players are Canadien and foreign-born while Bettman and most of the owners are American.

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"The Devils have high standards, that's the difference. We have a standard to live up to every year, and a couple of teams in our area don't have the standards we do." - Pat Burns

The New Jersey Devils win Stanley Cups everywhere:-NHL record for most road wins in the playoffs - 10-1 in '95 and 10-2 in '00-NHL record for most home wins in the playoffs - 12-1 in '03

You know what the worst part is? Everybody's saying they were squabbling over $6.5 million. It was LESS than that. Including bonuses, the NHL offer totaled $44.7 million, while the PA offer, including bonuses, totaled $49 million.

That's $4.3 million. Or less than 10% of either proposal.

I've been staunchly pro-owner this entire time, but the fact Bettman would not accept the PA's last proposal is absolutely ludicrous. And to suggest that every team would spend the max cap when 3/5 of the teams would be under it? FVCK OFF!!!

But that doesn't take into account the soft tax which would bring the cap up to $54 million for all intents and purposes (since at least a couple of teams would go to that level in a given season). The players had to be the ones to make the last move because they will never get a deal as good as they got now. They did not.

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"The Devils have high standards, that's the difference. We have a standard to live up to every year, and a couple of teams in our area don't have the standards we do." - Pat Burns

The New Jersey Devils win Stanley Cups everywhere:-NHL record for most road wins in the playoffs - 10-1 in '95 and 10-2 in '00-NHL record for most home wins in the playoffs - 12-1 in '03

There was no reason really not to have something settled but it came down to being a matter of power and head games. It was pretty obvious the tension between Twit #1 and Twit #2. Can't cry over spilled milk.

Just quick -- if Bettman wonders why the players didn't come back with 45m -- well then I have to wonder why he didn't offer 45m when he said there was no more time to negotiate... I HATE LOATH DESPISE AND ABOMINATE game playing like this. This is the mindset that is killing hockey -- it's hooking and clutching and grabbing -- it's thoughtless WIN AT ALL COSTS when you have no concept of what WIN even means! Win is NOT getting a penalty late in the game... and refusing to negotiate in the last ten minutes is NOT the same as leveling Willis! They're so freaking CLULESS!

What really gets the most is this snide, spiteful and rude kind of display used to be reserved for us commoners... bettman et al. are supposed to be above all this. What happened to diplomacy? What happen to being a gentleman. Society is one big fecking turd burger if you ask me. I personally would like to resign from society this is the equvalent of our elections of all behavior -- of road rage of just a total lack of decorum, honor... dignity respect. It's BRAINLESS and DESTRUCTIVE! I just canNOT get my head around it.

its too much time and money. no one has any real values. there isn't anything actually important except this concept of Winning and Being Right NO SIDE WINS! it's just a grand fecking mess... like our government like Iraq like EVERYTHING THE WORLD OVER.... it's not just an American thing as much as SOME would like Us to beleive. Beleive me I've driven in Canada -- the only reason it's not QUITE so bad is there aren't as many people ---- YET!

GAWD THIS SUCKS!@!!U*%(&A&*%(&^$(_&^*(_P^&*)(^%

adn I miss olp G$&*@#$&*( DMMIT!

Edited by Darwindog, 16 February 2005 - 04:02 PM.

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A dog has the soul of a philosopher. --PlatoOutside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. --Groucho MarxIt's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. --Mark Twain

^7^ is just defending his sport sheeps.. as Alcibiades the exiled Athenian rationalizes in his speech to the enemy Spartans, he wants to take revenge on Athens because he loves it and can't stand to see the state it's in now - Triumph

This is not a ping-pong game. There's a lot more to who's court the ball was in.

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<br>/\/ of the Jumbotron and it's 2 Ribbons<br><br>Favorite Doc-ism:<br>* "I have a tremendous grasp for the obvious."<br><br>Facorite Chico-isms:<br>Chico: "Actually its Brylin who jumped out with Pandolfo. I don't know if Madden was tired or if there's a problem..."<br>Doc: "The problem will be relieved as he comes out of the penalty box now!"<br>Chico: "Oh yeah that's right!"

A dog has the soul of a philosopher. --PlatoOutside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. --Groucho MarxIt's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. --Mark Twain